Political Quotes

“Madam President, I wish to share some remarks about the budget. I note how pleased I have been to work in this past year with the Presiding Officer on some legislation that I think, had we had just a couple more votes, we would have made progress and done something worthwhile to help ensure that our spending does not range above our budget, as too often has been the case in our country. The fact is the American people, by large numbers from polling data, believe we are on the wrong track, and the intelligentsia, the witnesses we have had before the Budget Committee--I am ranking member of that committee--keep telling us we are on an unsustainable path. Witnesses called by the Democrats or Republicans, the professional CBO witnesses from all walks of intellectual and business life, say we are on an unsustainable debt path. They are not kidding. They meant that, and the words mean something. We cannot continue what we are doing. Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said: I believe that our debt is the greatest threat to our national security. If we as a country do not address our fiscal imbalances in the near-term, our national power will erode and the costs to our ability to maintain and sustain influence could be great. He said if we do not address it in the near term--not just in the long term, in the near term.…”